As you may know by now, tomorrow is the Italian derby. Two rivals that absolutely hate each other will be facing off tomorrow in Milan at the San Siro. Juventus will face Internazionale in a duel which is carrying the most baggage that we've seen in a while. Juve has managed to reopen the Calciopoli trials and Inter is surely in hot water. Meanwhile Inter's president Massimo Moratti has backlashed at Juve's current director Andrea Agnelli and former Juve transfer guru Luciano Moggi claiming that Juve owe Inter more titles.
One thing is certain, if there are recorded phone conversations between Moratti and refs, Inter is surely looking at a dark future considering Juve were relegated to Serie B without proof of ever bribing the refs into fixing matches for them. Something which to this day is still laughable. Why would a team which boasted stars such as Buffon, Del Piero, Ibrahimovic, Nedved, Vieira, Trezeguet, Camoranesi, and not to mention Fabio Capello as their manager, need help from refs to win matches? Four years later and the teams which were tried in Calciopoli are still suffering from the aftermath. Inter is still at the top, but Juventus along with their fans know that Inter didn't fight to get there, nor did they even break a sweat, they had help from a court.
Tomorrow it will be more of an uphill battle for Juve than it will be for Inter considering that the team is still finding chemistry after a complete overhaul. New Faces for Juventus like Milos Krasic and Leonardo Bonucci, who is formerly of Inter(even if they only used him for a couple of games), will know and feel what its like to defend and fight for the Bianconeri jersey against the hated and despised rivals. They wont be totally in the dark on their first Inter encounter though, they will have by their side the experience of Inter killers such as Claudio Marchisio and il capitano Alessandro Del Piero. Both of these players will surely play on Sunday, and all Juve faithful will be hoping that they do. If anything is to rub off from these two players on to the youngsters like Paolo De Ceglie and Davide Lanzafame, then I can see a very successful future for the Turin side.
The key to Juve's success in Milan tomorrow will be feeding the ball to Krasic which will pick at Inter's obvious flaw on defence, which is their left back Cristian Chivu, unless the eternal Javier Zanetti(injured, possible to return) starts. Up front whoever the two forwards are will have to try and lure the defenders to the other side to free up Krasic on the wing. Also, they will need to find a way to make Eto'o and Sneijder's influence minimal. Juventus' biggest flaw is their defense unquestionably, although they seemed to get it together on their visit to the Eastlands on thursday. The defense will probably consist of Marco Motta, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, and its the left back position which will probably be the biggest question as to who starts, either Paolo De Ceglie or Zedenk Grygera. If De Ceglie starts he will have to be sure to come back down to defend after he goes on the attack or Inter will have a field day. Grygera has looked good so far this season in the opportunities that have been given to him so don't be surprised if he features at full back.
In the midfield there will probably be a line of four which is a characteristic of Gigi Delneri's teams because he utilizes a 4-4-2 or a variation of it like a 4-4-1-1. On the left wing it will probably be new Juve boy Simone Pepe, which will need to be alert to drop down on defense to help De Ceglie. In the center of the midfield I expect to see holding midfielder Felipe Melo who is slowly but surely getting back to his Fiorentina form which can only be good news for Juve and Delneri after a disappointing first season which was climaxed by Melo taunting the Juve faithful after an embarrassing exit of the Europa League at the hands of eventual runners up Fulham. Now whoever partners up with Melo in the center is questionable, recent reports from Italy suggest Aquaman will start instead of Claudio Marchisio. If Alberto Aquilani starts it will provide some much needed creativity in the center midfield, if it is Marchisio, well we all know what hes capable of as he is the future of the Azurri, so its a win-win situation for Juve. On the right wing without a doubt it will be Milos Krasic, who many are hailing as the new Pavel Nedved, and with his recent form he is making everybody see why as proven by his hat trick against Cagliari a week ago.
Now the biggest questions are at the forward positions. The whole summer Juventus chased Edin Dzeko to solve their goalscoring woes, but Wolfsburg played hard ball and hiked up his price making Juve go for Krasic instead and basically handing fan favorite Diego Ribas to Wolfsburg for a cut price prompting many fans to believe that there was a clause for Dzeko in the deal for the next transfer market, but that remains to be seen. So instead Fabio Quagliarella arrived on loan from Napoli to add much needed depth at a position where the Turin side only boasts the likes of Amauri, Vincenzo Iaquinta, and il capitano Alessandro Del Piero, not too much to brag about. Surprisingly, all four men seem to be firing on all cylinders much to the relief of Luigi Delneri. So who to start? For the second/support striker role it will be Del Piero no question about it, but who will Delneri partner him with? Iaquinta just came off a goal scoring performance against Manchester City while Amauri has just come off of the injury list. Or he can start Quagliarella which always seems to score goals that end up on the highlight reels. I personally believe he will start Amauri to pair up with Del Piero adding that Aerial threat that Amauri provides, but I am not 100% sure, Delneri always surprises(Manninger starting over Storari at goal vs Man City, really?).
Tomorrow we will see the level that Juve is truly at and whether they can hope for a run at the Scudetto or a place in the Champions League. It will be a match full of passion. I expect a hard fought battle. Delneri recently stated the he will absolutely not settle for a tie, that is music to my ears. I love that type of determination. Forza Juve!
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